Various manufactured articles are provided with textured surfaces for decorative purposes and/or to mask underlying features or irregularities. For example, in the aircraft industry, composite parts such as curved interior cabin panels are provided with decorative, textured surfaces in order to visually mask underlying structure.
Decorative interior panels for aircraft may be fabricated using a “crushed-core” compression molding process, in which a composite sandwich layup having a honeycomb core is compressed and partially crushed in a compression press. The outer visible surfaces of the panel are covered with a textured film that is formed in a separate labor and capital intensive process employing a multiple opening press (MOP). Following fabrication in the MOP, the textured decorative film must be glued to the panel in a separate vacuum forming operation that requires the use of infrared ovens and flammable spray adhesives.
Attempts have been made to form decorative, textured surfaces on panels while they are being formed in a compression mold, however these attempts have not been successful where the panels possess curvature or surface contours. The textured pattern of the mold tool face, which is used to emboss a decorative pattern on the decorative film, tend to lock the film within the mold, resulting in damage to the decorative film during removal of the panel from the mold. Moreover, because the thin, in-mold decorative film is subjected to the same relatively high force used to form the panel, some underlying rough surface features of the pre-preg skin and/or the panel core pattern may be visible through the decorative film.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for fabricating articles such as panels having textured surfaces that overcome the problems discussed above. Embodiments of the disclosure are intended to satisfy this need.